(26) Driving in Mexico or Topes, Topes, Topes
After a month and a half of riding in Mexico the “rules of the road” here are starting to become habit for us. Of course the first rule of the road is that there are no rules (or so it seems sometimes) when driving here. Especially for motorcycles.
The first thing you learn to deal with, and watch out for, in mainland Mexico are the Topes (pronounced “toe-pays”. These are the Mexican equivalent of speed bumps, but on a whole different level. They are absolutely EVERYWHERE. They come in various shapes, sizes and configurations. There are ones that have beveled edges and a flat top and are used as crosswalks for the pedestrians. There are wide (maybe 3 feet) humped ones that can be anywhere from a couple inches to 6-8 inches in height. Sometimes there are the narrow ones (maybe 6-8 inches across) of various heights. These can come in singles or sets of 2 or 3 in a row. Lastly there are the “road turtle” kind. These come in two sizes. The small ones are just like the ones in the US that mark lanes on the freeway often. Then there the big ones. These are about 4 inches in diameter and about 4 inches high. The small ones are put down in large patches on the road to let you know to slow down ahead of something, like a curve, or an intersection. The big ones are more for speed control like the other topes and arranged in offset rows so there is no easy way to ride through them.
You never know when or where they will be. They may or may not be marked. The only thing for sure is that every little town or village will have several to navigate. On a bike hitting one too fast or unexpectedly is definitely an eye opener. There are no speed limit signs in the towns. Reliance for speed enforcement is entirely left up to navigating the topes. However, our kind of bikes can navigate them easier than cars or trucks, to they provide us with nice passing opportunities :) A small village will have at least 2. One coming in to the village and one as you leave. A decent sized town can have 20 or more.
When they are signed this is what you will see. Always be on the lookout for this sign!!!
Other Driving Observations
Road Shoulders - One thing we noticed quickly is that all parts of a road are to be used. If there is a shoulder, that is where the scooters, bicycles and other slow moving vehicles go. This is true even if it’s a toll road (the Mexican equivalent of a freeway). Even if you are just a car moving slower than the general traffic you are expected to drive with one set of tires in on the shoulder so other cars can pass you even if there is oncoming traffic. If someone is coming at you and begins a pass, you are expected to get off on the shoulder to give them room to make their pass. Bottom line is, if there is a shoulder, it’s part of the road and should be used and driven on to maximize passing opportunities. It’s a bit disconcerting at first, but one gets used to it after a while.
Light Bars - Police, ambulances and other official vehicles drive with their red and blue lights (or whatever colors are on their light bars) on at all times. To an American it’s very disconcerting to look in the rear view mirror and see a police vehicle coming up behind you with it’s lights on. It took us a while to realize that they just drive with them on all the time. We’re guessing you only care about them if the siren is going too. Thankfully we haven’t heard one of those. Truckers and many other drivers also install all sorts of light bars on their vehicles. Some of them are quite spectacular, which is I think the point to be seen. While we don’t have anything special on the bikes our standard headlight is pretty bright and gives us reasonable visibility to oncoming traffic. That said we have seen some inventive flashing headlights on motorcycles too.
Hazard Lights - These are used anytime a car slows down. If you are coming to a stop for a toll both, your hazard lights come on. If you are slowing down to go over a tope, your hazard lights go on. If you are just driving slower than most traffic (with two wheels in the shoulder of course) then your hazard lights are on. I swear watching people switch their hazard lights on and off makes me think there must be a cottage industry to fix the switches when they wear out!
Turn Signals - Hmm, what to say about these. They can mean just about anything. If you are following a car in front of you and you see their left turn signal come on then they are trying to tell you that they can see ahead and that it’s safe to pass them. Usually! Sometimes they use them similarly to the hazard lights. You will see cars drive for miles with their left turn signal on. I’m not sure I’ve seen a right turn signal used. They almost never mean that someone is signaling a turn!
Motorcycles - This is the only place I’ve seen where motorcycle headlights do not turn on automatically. It still seems very odd to me to see the little 100 to 150cc Chinese bikes that are absolutely everywhere running without a headlight on. Helmets seems to be completely optional. Lots of people with them and an equal number without. Seeing three or four people riding on these little bity bikes is not uncommon. Especially if the 3rd or 4th passenger is under the age of 10. Motorcycles can drive where they want. With traffic, against traffic, on the shoulder, lane splitting, etc. The rule seems to be “if you think you can make it then go for it”.
Miscellany - In the cities there are all the people in the intersections trying to make a buck while the light is red. There are guys washing windows, selling food or trinkets or performing (kids juggling seems to be popular) for tips is very common. They seem to know how long the light will be red without needing to look at it. They always clear out before traffic moves.
Weird four lane roads. Many cities have a road configuration where there are two outer lanes and a center lane. The outer lanes seem to act kind of like “frontage roads”. While the inner road has both directions of traffic going. periodically there are merge zones where you can come from the outer lanes to the inner or from the inner to the outer. Since all lanes stop at the same lights I am not sure how this configuration is supposed to help traffic flow but larger towns and cities have them everywhere. You have to watch the traffic lights closely because the outer lanes will get a special arrow that allows them to turn left across an inner lane going the same direction. It’s very odd and takes some getting used to. I’m sure I’m doing a poor job of describing it. It’s just weird.
Speed limits seem to be completely ignored by everyone.
Unlike many places there is surprisingly little horn honking. Not that you never hear them, but it’s not the ubiquitous cacophony that I’ve experienced elsewhere.
In our 6+ weeks of riding here we have gotten used to most of the unwritten rules of the road here. Now it’s time to go into Belize and I’m betting we need to learn a new set of unofficial rules as to how to drive there. Wish us luck!
